


The Wedding Night

by Cantatrice18



Category: Nanny McPhee (2005)
Genre: F/M, Feels, Fluff, Happily Ever After, New Family, Non-Explicit, Wedding Night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-22
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2018-05-22 13:21:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6080886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cantatrice18/pseuds/Cantatrice18
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The wedding guests have gone. Left alone, Evangeline and Cedric must conquer their own mutual awkwardness. Meanwhile, the children are a bit too curious about what goes on during a grown-up's wedding night.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was long past sundown when the wedding celebrations finally ended. The entire party had moved inside when it had grown dark, brushing the miraculous August snow off of their party clothes and gathering around a hastily stocked fireplace for drinks and merriment. The children, up past the strict bedtime they’d learned to adhere to under the tutelage of Nanny McPhee, kept glancing nervously around, but the black-garbed taskmaster was nowhere in sight. Evangeline was sorry for this. Despite the nanny’s appearance (an appearance that had changed slowly but drastically since the day she’d entered the Brown household), Evangeline had felt her guard lower each time the strange woman appeared. There was an odd bond of trust between them, made all the stronger as Nanny McPhee had walked her down the aisle, transforming Evangeline’s elegant but decidedly un-matrimonial attire into a wedding dress any royal would envy. It had all happened so fast. One moment she’d been perched on an uncomfortable chair, watching the man she secretly longed for stand beside the odious woman he’d chosen for his new wife and wishing for nothing more than to disappear. The next she was covered in cake, all eyes upon her as she stammered out the truth: she loved Cedric Brown with all her heart. Minutes later she’d taken Mrs. Quickly’s place at Cedric’s side and the parson was gleefully reciting the age-old words to the marriage ceremony, binding the pair of them together in holy matrimony. Her heart, so close to breaking when she’d thought him lost to her forever, now felt so full of joy it was about to burst. Even now, hours later, she couldn’t believe her good fortune. When the last guest, a fellow undertaker of Cedric’s, finally departed, she turned to her new husband, beaming. Her smile faded slightly as she caught sight of his expression. She knew that look all too well. It was the look he wore when he was thinking of the past – of his wife, his beloved, dead just days after the birth of her last child. Evangeline suddenly realized what a difficult position her husband was in. Here he was, newly married to a woman he’d never even considered a possible match, his wife dead less than a year. More than once she’d overheard him talking to his wife’s favorite chair, that wistful expression on his face as he spoke of his troubles with the children and his worries about the family’s future. By all rights he should still be in mourning, not celebrating his nuptials. She looked down, suddenly awkward and unable to think of anything to say. The silence stretched between them like invisible hands forcing them apart. Then, his steps tentative and hesitant, he crossed the room until he stood over her. He was very tall, or perhaps it was simply that she’d never drawn near enough to him to notice. He smelled of old books and the subtle tang of ink, not what she’d imagined an undertaker would smell like at all. She inhaled sharply as she felt his hand beneath her chin, lifting it until she was forced to meet his eyes. There was a different look in them now, unfamiliar, and it sent shivers up and down her spine. “It’s getting late,” he murmured. “You must be tired from all the excitement.”

“Oh,” she managed to say at last. “I mean, yes, I am.” 

It wasn’t the truth. Her body seemed to thrum with energy each time she remembered how he’d said “I do”. So confident, so assured. He released her chin, almost reluctantly, as though the contact with her was something precious he longed to savor. “We’d best retire to bed, I suppose.”

She nodded stiffly and just barely managed to keep herself from curtseying. She was not his servant anymore, she reminded herself sternly. “Until tomorrow, then.”

She turned away, walking dazedly toward the small staircase that led to her attic room. She was halfway there when she heard him call out. “Wait,” he said. “Where are you going?”

“To bed,” she replied, confused. “I thought you said we should…” she trailed off, understanding her mistake. A flush of warmth came to her cheeks. “Oh. Of course.” She was no longer a servant. Her bedroom was not the cozy nook overlooking the garden. Her place was in his bedroom, in his bed. The thought of sharing a bed with him made her blush all the harder. “Should I—“ a thought interrupted her sentence, and she froze. She had no things with her, no belongings. She hadn’t intended to stay for more than a few hours, the length of the wedding. After all, it wasn’t supposed to be her wedding. Her few clothes were hanging in an armoire at the mansion of Aunt Adelaide, her nightdress folded neatly beneath a pillow miles away, utterly useless to her. ”I don’t have any…clothes.”

“Oh…” he blinked at her, brow furrowed in confusion. All at once he realized what her words implied, and his eyes widened. “Oh!” he repeated, a blush of his own mantling his cheeks. “Well then, I, um—“

“Hold on,” Evangeline exclaimed. “I may still have a few things here in my old room.”

“Ah,” Cedric said, a note of relief in his voice. “Well, go on and check. I’ll go up and…”

He didn’t finish. He didn’t have to. Bobbing a quick curtsy to him out of habit, Evangeline turned and practically ran to the stairs. She reached her room, rummaging beneath her bed for a box with her servant’s garb in it. As she suspected, her old, worn nightdress lay at the bottom. The blue lace around the neck was faded with age, the fabric uneven in places, but it was better than nothing at all. Clutching it tightly in her hands, she made her way back down the stairs and down a hallway until she stood before the door to his bedroom. She knocked tentatively, and heard Cedric call “Come in.” Swallowing hard, hoping she didn’t look quite as nervous as she felt, she entered his bedroom. 

She’d been there a hundred times before, to make the bed and sweep the hearth. Still, it was very different to see him standing before the bed, his shirt unbuttoned. He looked up as she came in and she suddenly became aware of the ragged little bundle she held in her arms. “I found it,” she murmured.

“Oh good. Well then.” He glanced around, his eyes alighting upon the wooden dressing screen in the corner. He gestured jerkily toward it, not meeting her gaze. “If you’d like to get ready there, we can, well,” he cleared his throat. “You can change there, is what I mean.”

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak, and retreated behind the screen. The white wedding dress, so fine and delicate, she draped over the clotheshorse. The pins in her hair took longer to remove, but in the end she held a neat pile of them, which she left on a small table in the corner. She slipped the threadbare nightdress over her head, the familiar feel of it giving her some sense of comfort. Nonetheless, it took all her courage to step out from behind the screen. Cedric was already resting in bed, a plain nightshirt replacing his formal attire. He looked up when he heard her approach, his lips parting in surprise as he took in her appearance. She realized that, as a man and her employer to boot, he had never seen her with her hair down. Nervous, more aware of her own looks than she’d ever been before, she twisted one lock of hair between her fingers. With focused determination, she strode to the other side of the bed, lifting back the covers and settling herself beneath. “Well, good night sir. I mean, Cedric,” she corrected swiftly. “Good night.”

He was watching her. Probably wondering how a servant girl could possibly be occupying the space reserved for his wife. She cursed her own awkwardness, the nerves that turned her into a tongue-tied idiot in his presence. Closing her eyes, she curled in on herself, willing sleep to come quickly. Then she froze as she felt the warmth of his hand on her shoulder.

She jumped and the hand retreated. Looking up at him, she saw the same odd expression on his face that she’d witnessed during the wedding ceremony. Slowly, as though approaching a skittish animal, he reached out and caressed her face. She was trembling, she knew. If only he wasn’t so handsome. She’d mooned over him like a love struck fool for months, never dreaming that she’d end up here. Evidently neither had he, for his eyes roved over her face as though he’d never seen her before. “My God,” he whispered. “How did this even happen?”

“Necessity?” Evangeline volunteered, a little sadly. After all, if he’d had any choice in the matter, if he hadn’t been forced to marry quickly, he might never have given her a second glance. “Your family is safe now,” she murmured. “That’s something, isn’t it?”

“They’re more than safe. My family is whole.” He drew closer to her, his hands moving to her shoulders, then down her arms. “I can hardly believe my luck. Last night I lay awake dreading the morning, knowing I’d be forced to wed that horrible Quickly woman, convinced that there was no other remedy for my sorry situation. But as it turns out, my children have a way of finding solutions where I see none.” He smiled at her with such tenderness that she felt all the air go out of her lungs. “If it hadn’t been for Simon, I never would have considered asking you to marry me.”

She felt a sudden wave of cold wash over her. “Because I’m a servant?” she asked. “Because I’m beneath you, uneducated, barely able to read children’s stories or write my own name?” 

She bit her lip, feeling tears of shame coming to her eyes. Despite her outburst, he had not let her go. “You aren’t beneath me,” he told her urgently. “Never think it. But yes, I suppose you’re right. I didn’t ask you because you were a servant. I didn’t want you to feel obligated or coerced into becoming my wife.” She blinked up at him in bewilderment, and he sighed. “Look at it like this. If I’d asked you to marry me, and you hadn’t wanted to, it would have been difficult or uncomfortable for you to refuse me if you still wanted to keep your position. Your livelihood would have been at stake, and I know employment is hard to find these days. I could never have put you in that position, having to choose between a forced loveless marriage to a man ten years your senior or losing your own income and security.” Still she said nothing, and he frowned, worry clouding his expression. “If Adelaide—if you hadn’t become Aunt Adelaide’s ward, with prospects of your own, I doubt I could have brought myself to ask for your hand. But please, I beg of you, don’t ever think that I look down on you because of your station in life or your lack of education. You are the sweetest, kindest, most patient person I know, and no amount of servant’s gingham can mask that.”

She hardly dared to breathe. Her heart ached as she looked up at him, feeling hope rising within her breast once more. He smiled, a wonderful smile full of love and affection. Leaning down, he pressed his lips against hers in a kiss that sent heat coursing through her. Another kiss followed, and another. As his arms wrapped around her, pulling her body against his, she closed her eyes and let her fears and inhibitions melt away.


	2. Chapter 2

“What do you think they’re doing?”

The children were sitting up in their beds, their bedside lamps lit. Despite Nanny McPhee’s training, none of them could sleep after the excitement of the day. None but Aggie, of course, but then, she hardly counted. “What could they be doing at this time of the night?”, Chrissy asked.

“Sleeping, of course,” Eric replied, but Lily shook her head.

“Not tonight,” she said. “Wedding nights are special. I read it in a book.”

“What book?” Eric demanded, but Tora interrupted him. “What’s special about them?” she asked, eyes alight with interest. 

“Well,” Lily began, enjoying the feeling of all eyes upon her. “It’s a secret, kind of. Something only grown-ups are supposed to know. But I snuck into Father’s library once and pinched a book from the shelves. And in that book, it talked about wedding nights. See, once the guests have all gone, the bride and the groom go to bed together – in the same bed.”

“That’s not news,” Simon scoffed. “Mother and Father slept in the same bed for years.”

“Not like on the wedding night,” Lily said smugly. “On the wedding night it’s different. On the wedding night, they’re _naked _.”__

__The other children gasped, but Simon still looked cross. “So they’re naked. I’ve seen Eric naked. I’ve seen Chrissy and Sebastian naked, when they were babies. It doesn’t mean anything.”_ _

__“Not to you, you’re not a grown-up,” Lily said, rolling her eyes. “And anyway, siblings don’t count. But the wedding night is the first time the bride and groom see each other naked.”_ _

__“And then what?” Sebastian asked eagerly. The others leaned in closer, even Eric, though he looked skeptical._ _

__“Then they sleep, side by side,” Lily continued. “And there’s something about consumée, but I don’t quite remember that part.”_ _

__“Soup?” Eric asked, frowning in confusion. “What’s soup got to do with it?”_ _

__“Maybe it wasn’t consumée then. Maybe it was consumption.”_ _

__“That can’t be it,” Simon protested. “Consumption is a disease.”_ _

__Chrissy rocked back and forth, eyes wide. “I can’t even imagine Evangeline naked, can you? She’s always so buttoned up in those drab servant dresses. And Father, too?”_ _

__“It can’t be true,” Eric insisted. “It goes against logic.”_ _

__“Does not!” Lily cried, and the others quickly shushed her._ _

__“Does too,” Eric rejoined. “It snowed this afternoon. No one sane would be naked all night when it’s snowing.”_ _

__“Well, there’s just one way to find out,” Simon cut in, a familiar mischievous look in his eye._ _

__“No!” Tora hissed. “We can’t do anything bad, not on their wedding night. It’s wrong.”_ _

__“There’s nothing bad about going to see,” Eric retorted. For all his doubting, he looked just as excited by the prospect of an adventure as the rest of them. “There’s an easy little way to get a look into Father’s room: a hole in the wall behind one of the hallway pictures. It isn’t big, and it’s pretty high up so we’ll have to have something to stand on, but with the right angle we ought to be able to see in.”_ _

__“Let’s go then,” Chrissy squealed._ _

__“Hang on,” Simon said, holding up a hand. “We can’t all go.”_ _

__“Why not?” asked Sebastian._ _

__“We’ll get caught if it’s all seven of us,” Simon replied. “I say we send half of us to go check and then those three will report back what they find. I’m going because I’m the eldest and it was my idea. Eric has to go because he knows where the hole behind the picture is. That leaves one other spot.”_ _

__“I know what a wedding night is supposed to look like,” Lily said haughtily. “Without me you won’t have a clue what’s going on.”_ _

__“Fine,” Simon answered curtly. “We’ll take Lily along as our third person, then report back to you all when we’re done.”_ _

__Sebastian and Chrissy grumbled, and even Tora looked a bit disappointed, but Eric was already leading the way out of the children’s bedroom and down the stairs. The trio crept along the hallways until they reached their father’s bedroom, then stopped. “Up there,” Eric pointed, and the others looked up at a small rectangular painting of sheep and shepherds that hung about six feet from the ground. “How are we going to get up there?” Lily asked._ _

__“We aren’t”, Simon replied, his voice barely a whisper. “Not all of us, anyway. The two of you will be the base of a pyramid, and I’ll climb on top, like we’ve practiced.” He cut off the others’ protests with a wave of his hand. “Listen, I’m the tallest anyway. Lift me up and I’ll be able to see just fine. If we were to lift Lily, or even you, Eric, there’s a good chance you still wouldn’t be able to see a thing.”_ _

__When he put it that way, the others saw that he had a point. Lily and Eric knelt down and Simon carefully climbed on top of them until his eye was level with the painting. With steady hands, he shifted the picture to one side and peered through a hole no bigger than a pence piece._ _

__It took him a second to get oriented. The hole was located beside a large bookcase in the corner. He could just barely catch view of the corner of the bed. “Higher,” he hissed down at the other children, and with groans each shifted until he was able to see clearly into the room._ _

__Father lay on his side in bed, head tilted as though looking down at something. For a moment Simon didn’t see Evangeline, until finally he caught sight of her mousy-brown hair against the white of the sheets. She was curled up in Father’s arms, her eyes closed, contentment radiating from her even as she slept. With gentle hands, Father ran loving fingers through the sleeping young woman’s hair and over her bare shoulder, gazing down at her with such affection that Simon felt a lump coming to his throat. “Put me down,” he hissed, and the others obliged._ _

__“Well?” Lily demanded. “Were they naked?”_ _

__“I—couldn’t see,” Simon muttered hastily. “They were both asleep under the blankets.”_ _

__“Both of them? Entirely?”, Eric asked suspiciously._ _

__“Yes, both,” Simon retorted, annoyance taking hold of him. “Come on, let’s report back to the others. There’s nothing more to see here.”_ _


	3. Chapter 3

Through the clinging darkness of sleep, Evangeline heard the soft rustle of bedsheets and felt a kiss brush her lips. She opened bleary eyes and saw the blurred form of Cedric standing over her, fully dressed and wonderfully handsome in the morning sun. “I’m off to work,” he told her, straightening his cravat. “I’ll be back tonight. Meanwhile, back to sleep for you. You must be exhausted.”

She nodded and closed her eyes again, enjoying the feeling of another kiss, this time on her forehead. A moment later she heard the door close. 

How long she drifted in a state halfway between waking and sleep, she did not know, but the next thing she heard was the sound of a door opening and the patter of footsteps. “Evangeline,” a child’s voice called urgently. “Wake up!”

She was awake at once, sitting up and looking around for the source of the voice. Sebastian stood a few steps from the open door, his expression bright and interested. “Evangeline, are you naked?”

She gasped, glancing down at herself and clutching the blankets around her. Her nightdress was nowhere to be seen. Sebastian grinned delightedly and ran to the door. “She is! She is naked!” he shouted into the hall. Another child appeared, this one a little girl wearing a self-satisfied expression. “Told you,” said Lily. “And father was naked too. Wasn’t he, Evangeline?”

Eric peered in, looking cross. “Alright, alright. But explain about the consumée, if you would. I don’t understand how that comes in.”

Bewildered and bright red from embarrassment, Evangeline clutched the blankets even closer to herself, unable to think of a single thing to say. She was mercifully rescued from this predicament by the arrival of Tora, who began to shoo the others out of the room. “Go away,” she commanded sternly. “You don’t belong in here.”

“Why not?” Sebastian asked, pouting. 

“Because, silly,” replied Tora, leaning in. “If she’s naked, then boys shouldn’t see her. Just girls.”

“Father is a boy,” Eric pointed out.

“Father is her husband. That’s different.” Tora pointed to the door. “Out.”

In the hallway, Evangeline could make out the outline of Simon, who made a commanding gesture at his younger brothers. Grumbling, Sebastian and Eric obeyed. Just as they were leaving, Chrissy pushed past them. “I’m a girl too, can’t I stay?” She looked to where Evangeline still sat stunned. “Can’t I? Please?”

Utterly nonplussed, Evangeline nodded, and was rewarded with a broad smile missing a baby tooth. “Thank you, thank you!” Chrissy cried, bounding forward and onto the bed and hugging Evangeline’s legs even as they rested beneath the blankets. Tora shut the door firmly, locking out the male members of the Brown offspring, and turned to Evangeline, looking serious. Tora had always been the least troublesome of the children, this Evangeline knew from experience, and she was grateful to the girl for her help. The younger two girls had both snuggled in next to her on the bed, shooting excited and expectant looks between each other. “Evangeline, what’s consumée?” Chrissy asked.

Evangeline blinked in confusion. “Consu—what?”

“What you do on your wedding night,” Lily urged impatiently. “In the book, it was called consumée.” 

“Oh.” said Evangeline blankly. “Oh!” she exclaimed, when she realized what they must mean. In the mind of a child, it was easy for a strange word like “Consummated” to become the more familiar term for soup, “Consumée”. She felt herself blushing even harder. “It’s, well, too difficult to explain.”

“Should we ask Father, then?” Chrissy queried.

“No!” Evangeline cried, mortified at the very thought. “It’s just—it’s something grown-ups do.” She hesitated, remembering the previous night. “It’s what happens on wedding nights. You’ll learn about it when it’s your turn to get married.”

“But what is it?” Chrissy asked again, however Tora cut her off. “It’s not our business,” she said firmly. “Leave Evangeline alone, Chrissy.”

Evangeline shot the girl a grateful smile, but Tora still looked serious. “Evangeline—or should we call you ‘Mother’ now?”

Evangeline quickly shook her head. “There’s no need for that. I’ll never replace your mother, and I’ve no wish to. Call me what you always have.”

This seemed to please Tora, for she drew closer to the bed. “Evangeline, then. Why did you marry Father? I mean,” she looked away. “I mean, do you actually care for him? Or did you just feel sorry for us, and want to keep us from ruin?”

Evangeline smiled and reached toward Tora, taking the child’s hand in her own. Her other hand still valiantly clutched the sheet around herself. “I wasn’t lying yesterday. I love your father so much that often it hurt me to even be around him, to know he would never see me as anything but a servant. Yesterday, the wedding, all of it, was like something out of my wildest fantasies. But even in my dreams I never thought he’d truly love me back.”

“And he does?” Chrissy asked.

“Of course he does!” Lily retorted, sounding outraged that the question had even been asked. “He wouldn’t have married her otherwise!”

“He was about to marry that Mrs. Quickly, though,” said Tora doubtfully.

“That was out of necessity,” replied Lily haughtily. “He never looked at that woman the way he looked at our Evangeline yesterday.”

“What will you do now?” Tora asked uncertainly. “Now that you’re no longer a servant?”

Evangeline thought for a long moment. “Do you know what my favorite part about being a servant here was?” The girls all shook their heads. “It was the moments I spent with you. Learning to read,” she nodded at Lily, “Or listening to your stories and playing with your dolls. Or just watching as you grew up.”

“But we were horrible to you,” Tora said. The others exchanged guilty glances. 

“We ordered you around and screamed at you,” Tora went on. “We insulted you, we treated you like a slave, just like the wicked stepmothers in all those books.”

Evangeline smiled. “You were never that bad. Not so bad that I could ever stop caring about you, anyway. I saw that you were sad, that you were lonely, that you missed your mother and your father both. With all that, how could I be angry with you, even when you were cruel?”

“We won’t do it again,” said Chrissy, snuggling closer. “We promise.”

Lilly nodded, hugging Evangeline tightly. The young woman looked over at Tora. The girl was smiling now, a smile full of hope, as she perched on the bed beside Evangeline. “We promise that we’ll never make you regret joining our family.”

Evangeline closed her eyes, breathing a sigh and holding the girls close to her. “I never could.”


End file.
